Tyll

A Novel

By: Daniel Kehlmann, Ross Benjamin - translator

Narrated by: Firdous Bamji

From the internationally best-selling author of You Should Have Left, Measuring the World, and F, a transfixing retelling of the German myth of Tyll Ulenspiegel: a story about the devastation of war and a beguiling artist’s decision never to die

Daniel Kehlmann masterfully weaves the fates of many historical figures into this enchanting work of magical realism and adventure. This account of the seventeenth-century vagabond performer and trickster Tyll Ulenspiegel begins when he’s a scrawny boy growing up in a quiet village. When his father, a miller with a secret interest in alchemy and magic, is found out by the church, Tyll is forced to flee with the baker’s daughter, Nele. They find safety and companionship with a traveling performer, who teaches Tyll his trade. And so begins a journey of discovery and performance for Tyll, as he travels through a continent devastated by the Thirty Years’ War and encounters along the way a hangman, a fraudulent Jesuit scholar, and the exiled King Frederick and Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia.

Tyll displays Kehlmann’s remarkable narrative gifts and confirms the power of art in the face of the senseless brutality of history.


Translated from the German by Ross Benjamin

Brilliant.

A truly extraordinary blend of history and legend of one of the events of European politics — the 30 Years War through the German tales of the fabled trickster Tyll Eulenspiegle. An authentic glimpse into the lives ofrulers, peasants and clergy a revolutionary time in European history when the Catholic/Protestant rivalries 1613 to 1648

Gratitude Excercise

I listened to this book several years ago and have thought of it often since. If you ever need a reminder of the amazing times we live in, give it a listen, I did a second time. Gruesome, sad, hilarious.

A gem

A vivid portrait of a little known slice of history, and one that not only survived translation to English and audio, but does credit to both.

Spellbinding

A Magical story based in a seldom revisited period of history. Narrator is very good.

Good story with unique characters

Very well written story with unique characterizations and an interesting confluence of themes between separate but overlapping stories.

This story appears to meander between vignettes for the first few chapters, but eventually, it becomes clear that it's following the range set of characters across time. Certain sections seem to be arranged non-chronologically, but it's not difficult to follow.

I feel like I will need to reread this to see all of the connections in full, but I quite enjoyed it.